d u m b m o n k e y

later that same day...       7.26.06
after a quick perusals of some sitios favoritos en el ether esta mañana, t'was my pleasure to discover more taco related goodness from the Grey Lady, in today's food section: The Taco Joint in Your Kitchen, and indeed, a good tortilla is essential. Here's a couple of mittfuls of taco related linky goodness: Taco Taco, Burrito... (courtesy Off the Broiler); Mexican Street Tacos (Caveat Emptor!); "que es un taco?", via Urban Dictionary; got sloppy tacos all over your plate, Binky? then ye need Taco Plate, ese! Stale tortillas your problem? Mebbe the Stalemorphic Taco Shell's what ye need. Okay, howzabout some Fish Tacos? NYC's a long way to go for some, but they sure look yummy! Not in NYC? well, don' let that stop ye. Try Bobby Flay's recipe, or this one.
taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco taco

hola jovenes y jovencitas...      
not at all certain how the month has gotten away from us, but here we are, less than a week to go. "Hijole, la chingada" as they say oftentimes in these parts...
Roz Chast, in New Yorker of 7.24, via cartoonbank.com, Hilda Sings the Democratic Blues (larger image here), and then, jessferdahalibut, here's one from William Haefeli. Watching Letterman last night I was pretty sure I saw that H***** ad mentioned previously, altho' this time with new tagline, sumptink like "restore the balance". Uhhhhh, okay, ye say so. Not too long ago ourowndamnedself caught news story about electric car coming to market, expensive little jewel, the Tesla. Supposedly, there are plans for a more economically priced sedan somewhere down the road, so keep a weather eye out. You've no doubt by now heard of the Smart Car, soon to be rolling 'round places like Berkeley (Berkeley, How I love ya, how I love ya, my dear old Berkeley...), no doubt about it. In re electric cars, there was also something called the Tzero, alas, according to wikipedia article, production costs were too great to continue. One might assume the expense of owning a Tesla has something to do with that, eh Binky? More Smart car stuff here, here, and here. In the meantime, some of us are likely to invest our effort in something immediately available, the Greasecar option. Ye know gasoline just ain't gonna get cheaper, Binky, no matter how much ye be wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'...

restore your manhood, indeed...       7.24.06
some of ye have no doubt run across the ad campaign by GM promoting sales of their behemoth vehicle via that tagline. For just a moment or two I was thinking "damn, is that the stupidest thing I've ever heard or what?" but checked myself in time, for we all know we've heard much stupider things, especially coming fromt he various trench-mouthed spokesfolks for the cad-ministration as well as the Head Fool hissowndamnedself. Anyway, stupidity seems to surround us these days, no? Pure and utter stupidity, reckless stupidity, stupidity of every variation.
Let's not bore ye with stupidities of mine own then, agreed? Noted on SF Gate last week, from the SF Chronicle, interesting piece on the topography of that undersea territory just outside the Golden Gate, vast sand dunes, more properly, sand waves. That article brought to mind one seen years ago, and I am pretty sure t'was also from the Chronicle, regarding similiar studies done in and around Lake Tahoe. I can recall making some mention of it in d'monkey of yore and even invested the better part of 20-30 minutes visiting some archived material in an attempt to locate the old linky bits, unsuccessfully goshdarnitall, but I did find this linky bit online, Bathymetry Images of Lake Tahoe, linkage there will take you to more seafloor mapping images. Cool, no?
alright now, what else did I want to share with thee. Ah, oh yah, a worthy endeavor certainly, and one of the best reasons I can think of to inspire a road trip; from the NYT (remember boyz und gurlz, use BugMeNot to solve your regisitration hassles), Chasing the Perfect Taco up the California Coast, and (link provided in that travel piece) be sure to check out The Great Taco Hunt, ummmm mmmmmm...   talk 'bout a worthy endeavor, and a nice food-related blogroll going on there too. Seem to recall an attempt at a "taco Tuesday" kinda thing hereabouts at one time, not sure what dulled that impulse, Binky...
mebbe fire up the ol' Mongoose & salvage sumptink from ol' foto files...

perhaps the lamest duck that ever quacked...       7.21.06
yes, gabachos y gabachas, we talking 'bout El Residente, El Estupido Supremo, the Moron-In-Chief, that clueless waste of space, he of the hateful shite-eating smirk. It is hugely representative & symbolic of his cad-ministration that he chooses the issue of federal funding for stem-cell research to impose the sole veto of his presidency (ooooh... how l'Marquis still winces when that reality hits home). Esteemed K.M. of GITM states it all quite succinctly on his post today.

a quick hit first thing this Am...       7.19.06
out of el chango tonto's mailbag, from two esteemed amigas on the left coast, a couple bits of linky goodness. Now, yourstruly will admit to not visiting the Huffington Post site as often as it be likely he ought to, but what the hey, eh? Pal S. sends along 50 Easy Questions to Ask Any Republican and l'Marquis would daresay one might put these guestions to anyone ye know of that "hem-hawing, fence-straddling, still not-quite-convinced that the cad-ministration is the worst political nightmare ever to have been foisted on the amurrikanpeeples" ilk.
via pal Euphorbita, am informed of the young Ava and her own effort towards peace in this world, Peace Takes Courage. Hang in there, dear Ava, sincerely hope that you'll weather the inevitable disappointment and disillusionment that has made yourstruly such a pessimistic, ornery, misanthropic cynic.
and just a couple of other items, jessferdahalibut-
someone needs to headbutt El Estupido Stupendo:
Bush Gropes, Planet Cringes...
(and do peruse Mr. Morford's 7.7 post, if ye have not already...)
some folks like da wonkette, l'Marquis likez Taylor Marsh;
not enough polit-bloggin' in yer life? then here's T. Goddard's Political Wire...

hot fun in the summertime...       7.18.06
which is what we hopin' ye be having, certainly hot enough everywhere in the lower forty-eight of late, eh Binky? Overhead weather newsbite about temps in Pierre, South Dakota reaching 117 degress the other day. Egads...
ourowndamnedself been meaning to make mention of this for some lil' while, so now's a good a time as any: most of us heard, one way or another, something about Neil Young's recently released antiwar/protest album; yourstruly didn't make much noise about it hereabouts, 'cept for sorta obliquely referring to Neil oncet or twicet in some earlier posts. 'Twas a bit more than a week or so ago that l'Marquis was spending some time online in leisurely perusal of this and that and ran across Why Neil Young Is Wrong from The Progressive. Then dropping in on K.C. Pat's 42 the other day, we discovered his Howard is living with war today. Pat generously included linkage to the relevant N.Y. sites, but we'll serve them up for you here as well: Living With War Today; from LWWT, Songs of the Times. Now, the really sad [expletive deleted] (ye know, that just ain't got the same kind of sizzle when one inhibits oneself from speaking freely) thing about all this is just how few of us seem to be any attention to this, you know, getting behind it. Certainly seems that, out here in the vastness of the hinterlands, most folks still "supporting the troops" and standing foursquare behind the decisions of the cad-ministration, no matter what various polls are alleged to indicate, hellzbellz, their are still idiots out there threatening the dixiechickies with bodily harm. Yea, verily, 'tis a pessimistic viewpoint to be sure, but yourstruly is unconvinced that there will be any serious headway made towards anything faintly resembling progress in that quagmire known as The War in Iraq/War Against Terror (*, **, ***). You can count on the cad-minstration doing little more than maintaining the status quo for the remainder of the duration of the Moron In Chief's presidency, and then, even more dispiriting, who the fuck (!!!) is going to have the courage to stand up and say "It is time to get our ass out of Iraq" and lead the way towards picking up the pieces of the horrific mess that remains after what will likely be recognized as the greatest of Amerikan misadventures.
appears the Yale Daily News link got hacked since the original post this am. Oh, BeKir Ghost Boy turkish hackers, what are we gonna do with ye...

otra vez, amigos y amigas, jessferdahalibut...       7.13.06
file under distractingly mindless fun: jacksonpollock.org,
brought to our attention via linkmachinego, who credits robot wisdom;
via Information Junk (always chock full of linky goodness), BayTaper.com;
food-related blogging anyone? One of our faves: Chocolate and Zucchini; for the chocoholics amongst us, Bittersweet; no, not Hemingway's, but a Moveable Feast nonetheless; me hungry monkeydude, she, Hungry Tiger (tigress?); the lovely My Mom's Recipes & More, where ye should definitely check out the linky bits on the sidebar; and lots more here, here, here & here, awwwww...   fukkit...
now i'm hungry, hasta la vista, babykakes!

oncet again, temps locally reaching the century mark...       7.12.06
and yesssss, binky, we wuz in da pool for a goodly part of our afternoon...
Mid Morning Update: sorry, katz und kitteez, almos' forgot- Check thy local listings for time & station, but on PBS American Masters, Woody Guthrie. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...
and now, 'fore I fuck up and totally forget, for those of thee out there in the S.F. Bay area, an event ye oughta know about, regarding a book ye oughtta know about: Thursday, July 27, at Booksmith, 1644 Haight, S.F., John Dean will be speaking about his recently published Conservatives Without Conscience.
A wee bit more re the book from the mout' of Mr. Dean hisowndamnedself, from brief interview w/Keith Olbermann, Monday evening's Countdown on MSNBC, transcript here. Oh, btw, Dean will also be at Stacey's on Market, 12:30 on Friday, the 29th. Another J. Dean item, 4.21.06 column from FindLaw, If Past Is Prologue, George Bush Is Becoming An Increasingly Dangerous President.
Now, quickly before one has to put one's ass in gear, two items from the New Yorker of 7.10.06: Nattering Nabobs, by David Remnick; Seymour Hersh's Last Stand, AND, if you didn't get around to it when we initially made mention, PLEASE read Jane Mayer's The Hidden Power (also via The New Yorker).
Remember, my pretties, the main reason we are in the fuckin' mess we're in is because we are surrounded by Dunderheads, Nincompoops and Know-Nothings. Don't choose to remain amongst the unthinking and unaware.

jesferdahalibut, chunky, chewy, linky goodness...       7.6.06
finally, some rain has fallen upon local environs, rainy Am both yesterday and this morn, appears we've opportunity for more showers later this day, but don't be fooled Binky, it hasn't been substantial precipitation, not 'round here leastways...
l'Marquis likes that nice new look at fimoculous;
Betty Lou's site for guitar underdogs;
a weblog by michael sippey, who lives in berkeley and works in san francisco;
Voice of the Shuttle, via the University of California, Santa Barbara;
plenty of chewy, linky goodness at Worship the Glitch;
another addition to our list of bloggos favoritos, meet the Feral Scholar;
one day (and yesssss Binky, have said it oftentimes before) yourstruly will have to completely revise the aawwwshit & autreblog pages, as it seems so many have left behind that webloggin' impulse, was good to see Incoming Signals still at it;
such stuff; amp power; Crazed Teacups; E.J. Renehan Jr.; Music Underwater;
and toppin' off an even baker's dozen, check out the Minister of Rants.

just a wee bit of perspective on this day...       7.4.06
what with all that redwhiteandblue bullshite going on...
from Sunday NYT, 10 Days That Changed History;
more than the usual amount of good stuff at Common Dreams
(July 3rd & 4th in particular, like this, this & this...);
let's celebrate democracy every day of the year,
and tune in to Democracy Now;
7.4.06 ThomasMc.com;
now, a few things to ponder over re something in the news of late:
from Common Dreams, Show's Not So 'Purrfect' for Female Forces In Iraq,
and from C.D. of 5.18.04, 112 Women Assaulted in Iraq, Afghanistan;
via Truth Out of 1.30.06, Military Hides Cause of Women Soldiers' Deaths;
via www.aztlan.net, circa 5.10.04, The Rape of Latinas in the US Military
am leaving the linky bit, altho' will append a caveat due
to uncertainty on my part re legitimacy of the source...
via PBS Newshour of 9.11.97, War on Harassment;
mentioned briefly in the Common Dreams item re purrfect angelz,
the Sacramento Bee series "Women At War",
& remember, try BugMeNot to avoid any registration hassles.
okay,
so we're supposed to be celebrating American patriotism today, right Binky?
then, seems to me, we ought to be impeaching the goddamn fool that got us into this mess (and wouldn't yourstruly be disappointed if Berkeley didn't put it on the ballot) and, more importantly, bring all of them back home as soon as possible.

where are the summer's thunderstorms...       7.3.06
is a question on the minds of many hereabouts as we are in what's often referred to as the monsoon season. Two years ago I can recall several sizeable thunderstorms, one in particular on the evening of the Momz birthday, heading to the west side of town and trying to avoid being distracted while driving by the magnificence of a summer thuderstorm's lightning. Also, knowing full well how disastrous summer rains can be, as many on that eastern shore will attest to; so terribly unfortunate a thing that the clerk of the weather will designate the green and leafy east as recipient of the deluge when one might hope that those many inches of rain would be sent west, where they might douse the many fires raging in mountain forests, where they would slake the terrible thirst of a an arid and parched landscape, perhaps add a few inches to rapidly depleting reservoirs.
The birthday thingie went very nicely, it seemed everyone enjoyed themselves, despite the occasional display of infantile behavior on the part of one or another junior member of the assembled family & friends. Momz was pleasantly surprised and seemed to enjoy her day-after-birthday celebration immensely, which is what it was all about anyway, eh Binky?
oh yah, some choice linky bits for ye, make your visit hereabouts worthwhile:
from the Sunday NYT, The Court Enters the War, Loudly (how weary yourstruly is, of folk like John Woo -- NOT the film director, mind ye -- Peter King, Melanie Morgan, Michele Maltin, that cow with the initials A.C. -- Separated at Birth: A.C. & Iggy Pop -- oooooh, this be one hellalong list...);
fix yourself a nice cuppa o'your favorite beverage, put on some good music an' settle down for a leisurely perusal of the mid-summer Ralph;
from the New Yorker of 7.3.06, Letter from Washington: The Hidden Power;
yourstruly was happily (!) surprised to discover a local theatre had booked An Inconvenient Truth, so the Momz and myself hied ourselves off to view it Friday, and in the spirit of Mr. Gore's endeavour, here's something from the NYRB online: The Threat to the Planet;
ahhhh hellwiddit, ye want chewy linky goodness?
hie theyself to Plep and thank S. J. Green for his labours

shhhhhhh...      7.2.06
it's the Momz birthday! well, t'was actually yesterday, but a weeklong's effort at subterfuge and secrecy is leading up to surprise party for her this afternoon, over at brother Ken's house. Not a big blowout of an affair, mostly just family, maybe a few friends of some of the kidz, didn't want to make the old girl uncomfortable with TOO big a celebration, as she prefers to keep these kind of things low key...
Surprising comeuppance delivered to the moron in chief and his minions from those old fogies on the supreme court the other day. That news certainly brought a bit of brightness into mine own life, what with all that shite going on of late with the pillorying of the grey lady, the absurdity of certain members of congress crowing about discovery of WMD in Iraq, that nonsense about an amendment (a fucking constitutional amendment, mind ye) banning flag-burning. Doesn't help matters that yourstruly deepens the depression by reading things that really don't make me feel any better (other than the knowledge that people are writing about these things and someone is publishing them and that the truth IS out there...), for example, Ron Susskind's The One Percent Doctrine. "So", ye say, "stop reading dat kinda shite and you won't be feeling so bad, binky-poo...", ahhhh, but ourself cannot help hisowndamnedself, be assured tho', that ain't the only kind of stuff l'Marquis is reading of late.
Wierd time-warp of some sort exists here on the west-texass/New Mexico/olde Mexico border, in particular am speaking about the remarkable popularity of bands like Korn, Styx, Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie, Queensryche (spelling-?). Alice Cooper's coming to town (dude, yourstruly saw Alice Kooper here YEARS ago, fucker oughta be retired by now, seriously...), there is definitely some kind of unholy affinity hereabouts for that flavour of rock & roll, ye know what I mean. Okay, so Shakira's coming to town (jeebus on a stick, those ticket prices are astounding in this land of low paying j-o-b-s and poor mexican-americans -- 90.25, 60.25, cheapseats at 24.95 -- ninety fucking dollars for Shakira? she better be nearly nekkid and dancing on my lap, Binky...). Oh yah, the Vans Warped tour is coming to Las Cruces, speaking about bored and disaffected youth, Las Cruces has El Paso beat any day of the week when it comes to that. Am reminded that Bobby Dylan and Willie Nelson played dates in EPTx recently, but those, believe me when I tell you, were freak occurences. s'wierd, is all, the singularly sizeable appetite hereabouts for metal, thrash, whatever the fuck you call it...